Hmm

Sort of looking forward to trip and sort of not. Called all the banks today to tell them I'd be abroad. Accountants very helpful with my VAT query and did the calculations early so I could pay today. No response at all to my other e-mail about PAYE. Oh well. I shall just have to remember to chase them and I can pay it from abroad without real difficulty as long as I don't find out I need to pay it at last minute. Would rather not have had to but not the end of the world.

Not relishing prospect of waking up tomorrow but has to be done. (I mean, the alternatives are all much, much worse. ;-) ) Not checked in online yet, will do it from office tomorrow and print boarding pass there as my printer at home is out of toner. No rush since I paid for seat reservation up front. Had e-mail from BA offering one way upgrade for £160 subject to availability; half thinking if I hadn't paid £50 to choose seat I might have tried that, but really it wouldn't have worked - I wanted the peace of mind of knowing I wouldn't be stuck with a crap seat before today. Plus my limited experience of 'slightly above cattle class' (flight back from Mexico with broken arm) didn't impress much (not a BA flight, but still) and also even £110 isn't nothing, I can spend that on better things.

Will be quite good to be through security and safely ensconced at a bar airside. A guy at work said I'd be flying from T5 if it's BA; I haven't checked myself yet. I assume T5 is fine these days anyway.

Hope to average an hour's walking a day while over there; should be easy, I probably did about that in November anyway. Unless I'm on a bus or tour just about every day will naturally involve a fair chunk of wandering around. Am sure the trip will be a net health sink, unless the relaxation counts for something (which it may well do), but I should at least try. I like walking anyway, though when it's hot I can't muster the pace I can in London.

Managed to buy the few remaining bits and pieces at lunch, including - gasp - a 50ml stick of hopefully chemical and effective insect repellent.

F&CO website still fine. No doubt they will downgrade Argentina from green to amber tomorrow...

Time permitting should call Trailfinders tomorrow and see if the two extra £15 premiums I paid for sandboarding and paragliding on my annual policy are still 'valid'. Doubt either will be an option but it is vaguely plausible paragliding will be available somewhere. I do at least now have Skype sorted out on my phone so I can call the UK cheaply if I need to and have wifi.

Should try to get to bed early but I'm in really late mode recently; struggling to get up in order to be at work by 10. May work in my favour if it means I have been short of sleep and hence tend to drift off on plane. Doubtless I will want to sleep as soon as I board, stay awake for the meal and then be unable to get to sleep afterwards.

Not too stressed out and guess I shouldn't be; it's probably echoes of my 2010 trip but when it comes right down to it I'm going on a routine if slightly long holiday.

Oh, I told the banks Argentina/Chile/Uruguay/Paraguay. If all goes well and I don't find myself metaphorically looking over my shoulder all the time I don't intend to leave Argentina, but I figured better to keep my options open with the banks. I don't want to have to call them to extend my selection of countries, especially when I sometimes wonder if it's necessary in the first place.

Just had a brief look on the web. I am from Calgary, Alberta. It has a population of about 1m, is large, cold (snow about 2-3 months of the year) and has two rivers, memorably called the Bow and the Elbow. That should see me through casual conversation. It sounds a fairly nice place actually, maybe I will visit one day. I can pretend to be Argentinian when there by way of balancing things up. People will be impressed at my fluent English...

There is a small poster here for the Six Nations. I observe two countries seem to have the same colour kit, near as dammit. This leads me to muse as to whether any professional (or indeed amateur) sportsmen ever have trouble telling teams apart due to colour blindness. Probably not; I guess true 'full on' colour blindness is rare, even then you probably get the mental equivalent of shades of grey and more importantly you presumably know your teammates so well you recognise them instinctively from their features, even to a certain extent from behind. I suppose it might be a slight disadvantage in speed of recognition but probably not. The colours are probably more for the spectators and (in particular) the ref. Much more inane observation of this type to follow as I hunker down as unobtrusively as possible in the corner of Argentinian bars over the next three weeks, I am sure.

Just got on tube at Aldgate. Checked my PAYG balance at machine ready for tomorrow - it's fine, I thought I got charged a fortune due to failing to touch out at Hounslow on Sunday but apparently I got that trip out free and the one back for only 1.80. Two women turned up a machine to left and one felt obliged to make strange comments, nominally to her friend, about 'you may stare at that machine' and 'you may walk off' as I went about my business. Fuck you bitches. I'll be getting the shit kicked out of me in the warm in a couple of days and you'll still be in London. Probably. Half tempted to say something back but not feeling super-sharp and I'd probably have come out of the exchange worse off.

This train seems to have an affinity for the station and isn't moving. Oh well. I should stop writing this crap really, since this blog is supposed to be tedious wafflings from abroad.

In the unlikely event anyone is reading this I will make the usual disclaimer now and then attempt to banish the issue from my mind: yes, I am probably drinking a lot, but fuck it, I am on holiday and I'm pretty restrained at home these days.

Ooh, maybe a signal failure. Fuck it, I'm waiting here. Were tomorrow a normal day I'd be walking to Bank - I wouldn't even have tried Aldgate tube - but as it is, not in the mood. Even if it might be quicker. I hope this burns off enough of my bad luck quota that the Piccadilly line won't fuck up when I need to get to Heathrow.

Am remembering in November how by the first Monday it felt like I'd been away from work for weeks. I trust it will be the same this time...